


Never Doing That Again

by Desdasi



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Dangerous Situations, Gen, Ice, M/M, Merlin's magic saves the day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:35:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29268075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Desdasi/pseuds/Desdasi
Summary: I got a one word prompt. This time it was ice
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	Never Doing That Again

**Author's Note:**

> Varning! Character gets into a Dangerous situation: nothing bad happened though 
> 
> Important lesson here readers. Don't be an Arthur. Never ever venture out on frozen lakes, rivers or other bodies of water if you don't know what you are doing. Never do it alone, never underestimate how fast ice can break up in spring. Stay safe.

Arthur had not believed his luck when he found the old boat lying on the shore. It was exactly what they needed! He had considered walking back to the group he had left, but decided that it would be much easier to push the boat into the river and go downstream to rejoin his friends. The current would probably make it unnecessary to row even! 

Said and done, he had got the rowboat into the water and seated himself in it. A push against the shore with one oars and the boat drifted downstream. He sat down and shuddered. It was the end of winter and chilly. But the ice had begun breaking and made it possible to travel by boat. As the boat slowly drifted by itself, he got comfortable and watched the forest. 

Now you might say it was foolish to go out in a boat you just found lying in the underbrush, but in his defense, the prince had no previous knowledge of boats. He didn’t know that one should wait after launching the boat, to see if it took in water. As it was, Arthur had seen no holes and found that sufficient.

Now the water was rapidly rising on the bottom of the boat. The chill he already felt made him unaware of the water seeping into his boots. 

But after another minute, not even Arthur could fail to realize that his boat was sinking. 

“Fuck!” He took the oars and tried to wrestle the boat back to the shore. 

It was futile. The heavy boat was impossible to control. Now he had to think fast. He was dressed in his armor and did not fancy a swim. He was in the middle of the wide river, far to both shores. 

Looking left and right, he had a mad idea. 

Standing on the rail, he swore again before abandoning ship.

°°°°

Merlin trudged through the snow in Leon’s footsteps. _Bloody prat had to go storm away and didn’t even have the decency to go in the right direction._

It had been a quite ordinary patrol. Arthur and the knights had crossed swords with a few bandits, and Merlin discreetly used a bit of magic to give his friends a hand. Nothing new. 

They had been talking about turning back towards Camelot when they had heard rumors of a village being terrorized by some beast. Arthur had decided that they would go there and end the beast’s reign. 

So the group had hunted the beast. It had turned out to be magical, and clever too. It had led them over a bridge and into the dark forest where they had been separated. 

As Merlin stumbled through the thicket, he had realized that the beast had allowed them to chase it. He had found Lance and Elyan, and together they had found a few others of the group making their way back towards the river. Only to find the bridge collapsed. Now they were on the wrong side of the river and the beast might be wreaking havoc in the village. 

Arthur had stalked away when he realized they had left the horses on the other side. The others had let him go, giving him time to cool down. 

Sitting down, they had taken stock of what they had when they heard rustling and branches snapping in the forest. _The beast!_

The branches parted, and Gwaine almost ran into Leon’s sword. 

“Shit, mate! Buy a lad a drink before you skewer him!”

Rolling his eyes, Leon sheathed his sword. “Glad that you could join us, Gwaine.”

With everyone back together, save one prince, they had told Gwaine about the bridge and the roguish knight had grinned.

“I traveled through this area once and remember that there is another bridge just a few minutes’ walk downstream.”

Relieved they had been about to leave when Lance exclaimed, “What about Arthur!” 

And so they had decided that Merlin and Leon would track down the runaway prince as the other’s begun walking.

°°°°

Merlin collided with Leon’s broad back and brought a hand to his nose. “Oww.”

Looking up he was about to scold the knight but stopped as he saw the strange look on his face.

“Arthur”, the knight said and raised his arm. Following where he pointed, Merlin looked out over the water. And what a sight!

Arthur was standing on an ice floe that was slowly gliding down the river, shifting his weight from one leg to the other. He was looking around helplessly but hadn’t spotted Merlin and Leon where they stood in the bushes. 

“Bloody cabbage head”, Merlin muttered. _How had he even gotten himself in such peril? Had he tried to jump from ice floe to ice floe to get to the other shore?_

Whatever the reason behind it, they had to do something. Leon was already shouting and waving his arms. 

Arthur’s head spun towards them. “Get me off this thing!” 

Leon twisted his hands. “We would, but how?” 

Merlin knew he could solve this. But now without magic. The floe continued its journey with its unwilling passenger, and Leon began walking to keep up with it.

Taking this chance Merlin turned his head down and murmured a word. 

He then hurried to catch up with Leon. Walking briskly, he called to Arthur. 

“There is a bridge close to here. If the ice has held so far, it might hold until then.”

Arthur looked doubtful, as did Leon. But they knew that they didn’t have much choice. Merlin wasn’t worried. His spell would keep the ice whole and floating. Arthur could have stomped and brought a whole troll with him and it would have held. 

And so they carried on. Merlin and Leon on foot and Arthur on his ice floe.

It didn’t take long until they had passed the ruined bridge and a few minutes later they saw the other one.

Shouts were heard from their friends who had not crossed the bridge but waited for them. Now Percival and Gwaine ran out on the bridge as Arthur floated closer. The prince held up his arms, and the knights took hold of him and pulled him up.

Merlin pushed past his friends to get to Arthur, who pulled him into a hug. 

“Not one word, Merlin,” he said into his shoulder.

“I love you, clothpole.”

“I love you too.”

°°°°°

After getting back to their horses, they rode towards the village where they found the beast. Arthur led the charge and his knights followed.

But Lance had looked at Merlin, asking ‘will you be alright?’ without words and Merlin answered in the same way, ‘I know what to do’ with his eyes before Lance drew his sword and joined the fray.

Merlin stayed in the shadows and studied the beast before using his magic to turn the tide. 

With the beast killed, they had regrouped and found that no one had been seriously injured. The villagers had thanked them and offered a place to stay for the night.

When the celebration quieted down, the friends had gathered around a table in the village tavern, to hear Arthur’s story.

The prince had grumbled but eventually relented and told them about the boat he had found and how it had taken in water. 

“... and I saw those ice floes that were floating past me and what else was I going to do?” Arthur took a sip of his ale and sighed. “I jumped from that to another until I ran out of new ones, still too far from shore to step into the water.” 

Gwaine swats the back of his head. “Do not do something so reckless again.”

Arthur nods. The story might have ended very badly. He pulls Merlin into his lap. It is safe to say that the prince won’t be trying his luck on half-frozen rivers again.


End file.
